Richard Jones's production of Verdi's great comedy will be available to watch, as live, here on the Guardian from Friday 21 June to Saturday 31 August. This production was recorded live at the 2009 festival conducted by Vladimir Jurowski and stars Christopher Purves as Falstaff.

Verdi and Wagner, the twin giants of 19th-century opera, were long seen as polar opposites. As we mark their 200th birthdays this year, that view has changed, and perhaps nowhere are their affinities clearer than in their valedictory comedies, Falstaff and Die Meistersinger von Nünberg.